CHLOE BENJAMIN, The Author

Chloe Benjamin is an author from San Francisco, CA. Her first novel, The Anatomy of Dreams (Atria/Simon & Schuster, 2014), received the Edna Ferber Fiction Book Award and was long listed for the 2014 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. Her second novel, The Immortalists, is forthcoming from Putnam/Penguin Random House in January 2018. The Immortalistswill be published in over thirteen countries, and TV/film rights have sold to the Jackal Group. A graduate of Vassar College and of the M.F.A. in fiction at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Chloe also teaches workshops on the business of publishing, from writing a novel to finding a literary agent. She lives with her husband in Madison, WI.

THE IMMORTALISTS

DESCRIPTION

It’s 1969 in New York City’s Lower East Side, and word has spread of the arrival of a mystical woman, a traveling psychic who claims to be able to tell anyone the day they will die. The Gold children—four adolescents on the cusp of self-awareness—sneak out to hear their fortunes.

The prophecies inform their next five decades. Golden-boy Simon escapes to the West Coast, searching for love in ’80s San Francisco; dreamy Klara becomes a Las Vegas magician, obsessed with blurring reality and fantasy; eldest son Daniel seeks security as an army doctor post-9/11, hoping to control fate; and bookish Varya throws herself into longevity research, where she tests the boundary between science and immortality.
A sweeping novel of remarkable ambition and depth, The Immortalists probes the line between destiny and choice, reality and illusion, this world and the next. It is a deeply moving testament to the power of story, the nature of belief, and the unrelenting pull of familial bonds.

UK EDITION

“Benjamin is at turns funny, tragic, informative, and mystical. And, like a good magic act, you’ll be wondering what on earth she’ll pull out of the hat next. THE IMMORTALISTS demands to be discussed, dissected, and pondered long after reading. “
— Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, author of HARMLESS LIKE YOU

“The four siblings were so real to me that when I turned the last page I immediately missed their company. I was fascinated by the idea of knowing the date of one’s death and seeing how each character in The Immortalists handled that knowledge, but maybe even more than that, I loved how Benjamin conveyed the intimate details of these people, which made them and their stories come alive.”
— Claire Fuller, author of OUR ENDLESS NUMBERED DAYS

SAVE THIS FOR YOUR REFERENCE!

CHLOE BENJAMINS OTHER WORK!

THE ANATOMY OF DREAMSRecipient of the 2014 Edna Ferber Fiction Book AwardLong listed for the 2014 Center for Fiction First Novel PrizeNamed a best book of September 2014 by Flavorwire and BustleBook club pick for the Wisconsin State Journal

It’s 1998, and Sylvie Patterson, a bookish student at a Northern California boarding school, falls in love with a spirited, elusive classmate named Gabe. Their headmaster, Dr. Adrian Keller, is a charismatic medical researcher who has staked his career on the therapeutic potential of lucid dreaming: By teaching his patients to become conscious during sleep, he helps them to relieve stress and heal from trauma.

Over the next six years, Sylvie and Gabe become consumed by Keller’s work, following him from the redwood forests of Eureka to the New England coast. But when an opportunity brings the trio to the Midwest, Sylvie and Gabe stumble into a tangled relationship with their mysterious neighbors—and Sylvie begins to doubt the ethics of Keller’s research, recognizing the harm that can be wrought under the guise of progress.

As she navigates the hazy, permeable boundaries between what is real and what isn’t, who can be trusted and who cannot, Sylvie also faces surprising developments in herself: an unexpected infatuation, growing paranoia, and a new sense of rebellion. In stirring, elegant prose, Benjamin’s tale exposes the slippery nature of trust—and the immense power of our dreams.